Freedom

The idea of freedom, or lack there of, is very prominent throughout the story. Updike previously described these three women as being carefree and willing to do anything they wanted, and always getting their way in their prime. But now, as they have grown older and a little wiser, the idea of freedom has slipped away from their vcabularies. They no longer feel as if they can do anything or conquer the world all at once with the bat of an eye or the flash of a smile. These women now understand that to gain freedom you must work for it first. But, not having to do this previously, they dont know how to go about getting what they want so they just figure that they should give up.

• page 46: "We're not free. You're never free of wanting. Sam Smart used to tell me, the c*** is very sensitive, but not very smart. It doesn't know when to quit."

This just reinforces the lost idea of freedom and the joy they used to feel and have no sense of how to get it back, which is tragic because they used to have so much fun and joy in their previous lives.

Hamlet, Act I, Scene I

And then (they say) no spirit can walke abroad,
The nights are wholsome, then no Planets strike,
No Faiery talkes, nor Witch hath power to Charme:
So hallow'd, and so gracious is the time.

This quote is at the very beginning of the novel. I was curious as to why he ( John Updike) would choose such a quote to begin a book with.

And then, they say, no spirit dares to walk abroad.
The nights are wholesome, no planets change course,
No fairy takes children, a witch has no power to charm,
The time is so holy and so full of goodness.

That is the translation i found of that particular quote. It states:

That no spirit dares to walk around in the open, when in the first book they fought the wicked spirit, also known as Darryl Van Horne, and the ladies won.
The nights are wholesome and the planets don't change course, when Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie believe in the changing of planets and full moons and super natural powers because they all have experienced them being possessed by themselves while in their prime.
No fairy takes children, a witch has no power to charm, is the most powerful line of the quote because it pertains directly to these three women. All three are witches and it says that they can not use their charm to either get out of trouble or to get their way, which is becoming truer everyday for these women because they are slowly dissintegrating towards their doom and inevitable death.
The time is so holy and so full of goodness, might be a foreshadowing moment when Updike is trying to tell us that good fortune will soon seek out these three women and help them along in their journey to these exotic places as well as their cross over to the other side.